Leading citizens urge Gauhati High Court to take suo motu cognisance of Himanta’s remarks on ‘Miya’ community

More than 40 prominent citizens, including academicians, doctors, authors and retired bureaucrats, have urged the Gauhati High Court to take suo motu cognisance of recent statements made by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma against a particular community, warning that silence or inaction could erode the moral authority of the Constitution.

In a letter addressed to Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar on February 5, the signatories drew the court’s attention to a series of public remarks by the Chief Minister which, they alleged, “on the face, amount to hate speech, executive intimidation and open vilification of a particular community”, referring to Sarma’s comments targeting ‘Miyas’, a term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam.

The citizens stated that Bengali-speaking Muslims have been an integral part of Assamese society for over a century and argued that the Chief Minister’s statements enter what they described as a prohibited constitutional zone of dehumanisation, collective stigmatisation and threats of state-sponsored harassment. They noted that while ‘Miya’ has historically been used as a pejorative, sections of the community have recently reclaimed the term as an act of resistance and self-assertion.

The letter alleged that Sarma has engaged in “instigation for physical harm, economic discrimination and social humiliation”, citing in particular his reported remark urging people to pay less than the actual fare to rickshaw pullers belonging to the community. Such statements, the signatories said, encourage discrimination and social exclusion.

Among the 43 signatories to the letter are noted academician and intellectual Hiren Gohain, former Assam DGP Harekrishna Deka, former Archbishop of Guwahati Thomas Menamparampil, Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Bhuyan, environmental scientist Dulal Chandra Goswami, retired Assam Medical College principal T R Borbora, advocate Santanu Borthakur, Joint Council of Trade Unions joint convenor Garga Talukdar, and litterateur Arupa Patangia Kalita.

The citizens also flagged the Chief Minister’s statements directing BJP workers to file objections against Bengali-speaking Muslims during the ongoing Special Revision of electoral rolls. They argued that a constitutionally mandated and quasi-judicial process like the Special Revision cannot be turned into a partisan or communal exercise at the behest of the Chief Minister, noting that the Election Commission has so far not taken cognisance of the issue.

Recalling that a Chief Minister takes an oath to discharge duties without affection or ill will, the letter said publicly singling out a religious community for suffering, economic deprivation, heightened scrutiny and exclusion is fundamentally incompatible with that oath. It further alleged that the Chief Minister’s statements are prejudicial to national integration, promote enmity between groups on religious grounds, and run contrary to secularism, which forms part of the basic structure of the Constitution.

Maintaining that the matter warrants judicial intervention, the signatories urged the High Court to exercise its suo motu jurisdiction and direct competent authorities to register cases related to hate speech, executive interference and violations of fundamental rights. They also called upon the court to protect the dignity, equality and security of the affected community and to reaffirm that constitutional functionaries are bound by constitutional discipline.

“Silence or inaction in the face of such open constitutional transgressions risks normalising them and eroding the moral authority of the Constitution itself,” the letter said, urging the court to intervene to uphold public confidence in secular constitutional governance and the rule of law.